'Angrier, Nastier, Uglier'

There are many heroes and villains in sport and life. This week I read about an unsung hero whose story has not been made available to a wider audience or if it was it has tended to be forgotten or obscured by the role of others and our very short memory spans. I also reminded myself about a villain and how their roles became intertwined. I was shocked at how far we have had to travel in sport and life. I was amazed at what is now considered heroic, but was at the time vilified by many.
In 1968 the Olympic Games were held in Mexico City. The build up to the games was marred by volatile student protest in Mexico and its government's response. Anybody who has ever been to that country cannot fail to be struck by the incredible inequality between haves and have nots. Mexico's government sent in the army. They opened fire on unarmed demonstrators and over 200 people lost their lives. In America black civil rights protests were bloody and fraught.  Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had been assassinated. America was on a precipice.
The Games themselves, held at altitude, featured some extraordinary performances. Nobody who witnessed it will ever forget the mighty one off long jump leap of Bob Beamon. He practically jumped out of the pit on the way to a new world record which stood until 1995. Lee Evans of the USA smashed the 400 m world record. Our own golden David Hemery grabbed the longer hurdles gold medal.
The mens' 200 metres resulted in gold and bronze for USA with a silver for Peter Norman of Australia. It was not the result which caused a sensation, all were amongst the favourites. It was the aftermath. Norman was said to sympathise with the plight of aborigines in his native land and to detest 'racist white government policies'. Winner Tommie Smith (USA) and bronze medallist, John Carlos (also USA), decided to make a lasting and unforgettable political statement at the medal ceremony. Both athletes appeared wearing black socks and no shoes. This was to symbolise 'black poverty'. Smith wore a black scarf for 'black pride'. Carlos had his tracksuit top unzipped in solidarity with 'blue collar workers'. He also wore a necklace of beads which represented dead black victims of murder, lynching and other racist atrocities in the US.
 Peter Norman, my unsung hero, supported their protest. All 3 men wore 'Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR)' badges. During the playing of the Star Spangled banner Smith raised his right black gloved hand. Carlos held up his left black gloved hand in symmetrical fashion. The glove in fact belonged to Smith. Both Americans bowed their heads during the playing of the national anthem.

At its conclusion the crowd roundly booed all 3 athletes. I wonder what would have happened today. I am not sure that the outcome would be very different. Sports fans are generally uncomfortable with political interventions in their world.
The Establishment was horrified. The Head of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, suspended Smith and Carlos from the US team and the Olympic Village. The US Olympic Committe showed some resistance and were consequently threatened with the exclusion of the entire team. They capitulated. Smith and Carlos were expelled from the Games.
Avery Brundage had form. He is the villain I referred to. In 1936 when head of the US Olympic Committee he had defended the Nazi salute at the Berlin Olympics as it was the 'national salute of that country'. He was implicated in the replacement of the only 2 Jews on the US team. This was to appease Hitler who did not want Jews on the medal rostrum.

 He opposed an IOC Boycott of the Berlin Games and caused the most pro boycott campaigner to be expelled from the IOC. Astonishingly Brundage was able to replace him on the IOC. He was a leading Nazi sympathiser even after the outbreak of the 2nd World War. He praised the Nazi Regime at a rally in Madison Square after the Berlin Olympics. Brundage secretly showed Leni Riefenstahl's film 'Olympia', a Nazi celebration of those 1936 Games to his friends. By 1968 Brundage had completed his ascent to the summit of the IOC. I am still amazed and appalled by the hypocrisy enshrined in his leadership of such an august organisation.

One of the main stated aims of the OPHR was the removal of Avery Brundage from his headship of the IOC.
As for Smith and Carlos, they were not welcomed back to America, indeed they were shunned. They featured in a hostile front page article in time Magazine with a headline 'Angrier, Nastier, Uglier' which drew its 'inspiration' from the Olympic Motto 'Faster, Higher, Stronger'.
Tommie Smith lamented  ''If I win I am American, not a Black American. But if I did something bad then they would say I am a 'negro' "
Peter Norman was reprimanded by the Australian Olympic Committee. He was shunned by the Australian media. He was not selected for the 1972 Munich Games in spite of the fact that he was ranked 5th in the World and finished third in the Aussie trials.
Smith and Carlos sought refuge in American Football with mixed success. It was only many years later that they were rehabilitated and became heroes to a wider audience. They were welcomed back into the athletics fold and in 2005 a 22 foot high statue of them was erected at San Jose University, California.The following is said of them 'It was their misfortune to be far greater human beings than the leaders of the IOC of the day'.
When Peter Norman sadly died, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral.

An Olympic Hero

UPDATE
Salute the documentary film by Matt Norman has been voted best documentary film of 2012.